The current legislation is likely to remain in place for at least another fifteen months and possibly longer. The Council has a statutory duty to continue to enforce the provisions of the legislation.

Why then have they failed to do this at the Palm Tree for 3 years and placed the public at risk during this time? But there is no way forward with a frontal assault on the officers - best to just ignore them.

The point is that the Council can enforce the provisions without preventing sessions. They do have to investigate but they do not have to conclude that a collection of unpaid members of the public making music for their own pleasure are (more than two) 'performers' in a public entertainment. There is is discretion available to the Council at this point. It is not just a blunt choice between obtaining a PEL or stopping the session.

I suggest that you should insist that the sessions continue until the issue is brought before the Council members as the local licensing authority, and they be asked to decide. They may accept that the session requires a PEL (or they not) but there are a number of options open to them. They may decide not to charge a fee, for example.

They could even allow all the current sessions to continue (as safely as they already have), until the Council has all the expert advice it requires and can make an informed and final desision. This would take many months and may not even be finally decided until the new Act has fully replaced this current law..............And there is now also the Human Rights legislation that your Council must take notice of, as they will be in breach of it.

What is the specific safety issue presented by a session, that cannot be dealt with via the justice's licence? They need to find one in order to legally prevent the public's freedom of expression.